I Do Woo; Do U?

Tag Archives: Irony

Today I considered the option of purchasing sheets for our rental beds. The owner has linen but suggested we bring our own – commenting some people find it more comfortable to use their own. And if we choose to wait and decide to purchase there – supposedly the available options for good bed linen are not many. Purchasing something specifically to bring was not on our plan but the more I thought about it, I decided to look into this further.

Our landlord also explained that with the humidity the sheets can sometimes feel damp and therefore cold. She purchased the electric mattress heaters which she suggests we turn on about 15 minutes before bed and then everything feels better.

My search began on line and within only a few sights I found one set of sheets which sounded interesting – bamboo and cotton. I figure since bamboo is from rain forests, this may be something to consider. Then I read the reviews and they were all 4 and 5 stars. One of the reviews said they purchased the product for their place in Panama – due to the dampness and humidity – and they were fantastic!

We have a winner!

Now….while I AM getting rid of the majority of what I own…I still appreciate a good shop now and again. I especially love getting either a good deal or something extraordinary. I promise to come back to you on how they turn out.

Walter just came in to hear my DoWoo. After reading this, we chatted and then as he was leaving he came over to give me a kiss and saw I was already looking online for sizes and rates. He said “A little bit of retail therapy.” My answer “Ya-ah!” I guess I’m not so ‘recovered’ after-all.

Learned a HUGElesson between yesterday’s actions and today’s observations. When you are sorting for packing versus packing to store versus giving away – remember to leave stuff out for the interim.

Gregory was getting ready for school today and there were no underwear, socks, any outside clothes left in his room – only PJs. I had to sort through the give away pile as well as the packing pile until we found clothes he could wear today (high of 14 degrees Celsius). I then realized I had not left anything out for myself.

So…lesson learned. Have a 4th pile within your 3 step process – otherwise you may wind up with no choices whatsoever.

Tomorrow is our 2nd and last ever garage sale here. I believe we’ve had a garage sale every year since I was pregnant with Gregory – so 10 years now! It is a huge amount of work but so much fun. Our bedroom set is being picked up (sold months ago) and tomorrow night we’ll be camping on the floor mat. It’s becoming real. And the most wonderful things is that I’m smiling as I type this. We’re in the last stages of this chapter and I’m starting to truly feel the excitement of this next chapter….the unknown within the known.

“They” say that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasures”. I’ve always loved that “they” have something to say about almost everything and no one truly knows who “they” are.

The last few weeks and today felt like a slight twist on this old idiom – my treasures are now able to be someone else’s treasures. During the process of divesting ourselves of the materialistic aspects of our life, we have been offering all that we own to those we know, care and love. As of today we have sold all our main furniture other than Gregory’s room. It’s exciting to see the joy someone else sees in an object, the beauty, the symmetry, the usefulness. Thank you to those who pitched in and decided what we had to offer worked for their spaces. We send everything onto your space with love!

I stood outside the main living room – approximately 200 square foot room – and perused all the stuff sorted for our garage sale, piled in spots 4 bins high. I turned to Walter and said, I handled all of that – sorted it and chose for it to be sold. To which he turned to me and responded “You most likely purchased it all as well.”

My name is Carolynn – and I am a shopaholic!

I recall explaining to Walter early on in our relationship… that when I got upset or stressed, I would shop; and when I was happy and exciting about life, or whatever was going on, I shopped. This is when he realized…and shared his observation with me…I just like to shop.

OK – I admit it. I love to shop. I especially love to get a GREAT deal on something. I love to negotiate and bargain. I’ve even played “good cop / bad cop” with me playing both parts in order to negotiate a price down on a particular piece of furniture. I remember bargaining with the butcher when purchasing shish kabobs!

I was thinking about this last night and decided to play with our garage sale sign. We even went so far as to include the same wording in the classified add for the garage sale in this weeks newspaper. Julie, in classified, laughed the whole time we chatted. What do you think???

Attended a hockey game this evening. A friend of ours, who supports the local team, was going to shave his hair for cancer during the intermission. While I’m not a huge hockey fan, I find most sports more enjoyable in person. To support a good cause…well, that was a major bonus!

We had Gregory’s best friend with us. He has never been to a live hockey game and does not know much about how it works. I started to explain “off side” as this rule and the icing rule are really all I remember from “Peter Puck” lessons when I was their age. Walter said he found it amusing that I was the one explaining the rules.

After noticing team members flipping the hockey puck in the air quite a bit, I asked Walter why were they flipping it up in the air – “It’s called ice hockey, not air hockey.” He laughed around the soft pretzel he was eating.

Turns out they do this all the time. I just had not noticed it. However, he did find my observation funny and reminded me that football was mostly about throwing, catching and running with a ball – whereas soccer, called football in other countries, is mostly about the ball and the foot.

It got me to thinking: Baseball is about balls and bats but it does involved the players running around bases. Basketball is about getting the ball into the basket. However, golf and lacrosse – does the name reflect anything directly related to the sport?

Not sure how hockey got it’s name…but maybe the ‘puck’ and ‘net’ could have somehow made it into the description.

What do you think?

“I know someone in a rut. And they’re going to stay in a rut. Why? I’ll tell you why!!! Simply because they don’t use their abilities toget things done!”

I recall having recited these words, loudly, during a Dale Carnegie class about 15 years ago. I recall what transpired in my life because of these words – a huge shift in who I was spending my time with and I got things done!

When I sat down at my computer this evening, for the 4th time in a week I said to myself “I don’t know what to DoWoo about.” This evening when Walter came in the office, he asked me “Are you inspired?” to which I answered “not yet” then BAM!! That was it. Lack of inspiration.

You may wonder…why does that excite me?

The fact that I am experiencing a lack of inspiring observations to share has me wondering what I am doing to result in such lack. If my world without is a reflection of my world within, this could translate into my inner self taking a bit of a siesta when it comes to getting stuff done! If I ensure that every day I do one small thing to move me forward…then guess what? I move forward.

I realize this is what I have done off an on over the last few years – falling back into the stuff that needs to be done but not the stuff that I want to get done to move my dream forward. Hence, my putting my foot down back on DoWoo #101. I observe I’ve done it again.

NO MORE!!

I have a count down clock here for a reason. There is a long list of things which need to be done to successfully depart for our adventure in just over 2 months. This requires a plan of action – documented – and implemented.

DONE! I’m getting ‘er done!

If you change how you look at things – the things you look at change! – Wayne Dyer

Do you realize the choice is TOTALLY up to you?

We have been blessed to have one of the greatest neighbours. Our son calls them Nana and Popa – considering them like family. We take care of each other and watch each others back! We talk over the fence all summer long. Coordinate our annual garage sales to match. Share food. Take care of each other’s sidewalks during the winter snow falls. The list goes on and on. It truly is a nice space to be in. We will miss them when we move. However, I know they’ve met the buyers – they’ve already accepted an invitation for a barbecue once they’ve move in!

In February our neighbour came over to drop something off when I finally had an opportunity to explain we were selling the house and moving to Costa Rica. He was over the moon for us. He must have hugged me 6 times during our conversation at the door. He kept repeating he was so happy for us – for us to be realizing our dream. He almost skipped back home to tell his wife.

Recently Walter was speaking with him when he said again how happy he was that we were following our dream. He mentioned he had dreams once. But he did not do anything about it. Now it was too late.

Why is that?

Why do people consider their dreams are no longer viable because they reach a particular age?

We have had numerous people say to us “It takes balls to do what you are doing.” Walter typically responds with“Actually, it takes balls to stay where you are.”

Is being where you are and wanting to be somewhere else what people consider “safe”? And if you do something adventurous, out of the norm, then you have “balls”? I say I have a purpose to fulfill and it takes balls to NOT do what I have drempt of doing. Does it not take balls to consider an option which may result in regret. Do it NOW! It may not be perfectly executed but it ISexecuted.

So…what do you think? Balls to stay and not follow your dream? OR Balls to dream and do something to fulfill that dream? We could rephrase that old saying to now read:

“To have balls or not to have balls? Now THAT is the question.”

Keep an open mind. Choose to hear more about this environment which allows you to tap into your best you…add your name and email below. Once the next course if made available, I get to share with those who’ve signed up here. Make sure you are one of the people provided with this choice…before the masses. You have so much to gain…and nothing to loose! That my friend is what we call a Win/Win situation!

If you change how you look at things – the things you look at change! – Wayne Dyer

The choice is TOTALLY up to you!

This Brain Games show is really turning out to be a seriously cool thing to watch with Gregory. I’m learning so much and for him to be learning this now – at his young age – all I can say is wow! I can only imagine the tilt this younger generation has on us – what information they have at their finger tips so much earlier than we have.

This evening we watched the episode “What You Don’t Know”(Netflix Season 2 Episode 6). It’s about our brain and all the things we don’t know. There are a series of test and experiments “designed to show how surprisingly little (our) brain understands about how the world works.”

The first test was a short video of this bus. It was vibrating slightly as if idling, there were geese flying to the right, a plane taking off and flying to the left. The audience were asked to decide which way the bus would move if it were to go forward.

The host explained almost every child under 10 would be able to answer this question correctly. Turns out I answered this based upon what I perceived to be the external clues I thought were included to point us in the proper direction (plane and geese). I was incorrect.

“We constantly come across problems we can’t solve and if we were honest with ourselves we’d admit it. Psychologist have a term for this: Illusion of Knowledge.”Shankar Vedantam – NPR Science Correspondent

“Our brains are wired to try and provide an answer. It’s a basic survival mechanism to make you feel more in control. After all nobody likes to walk around feeling lost and clueless; especially about things we think we should know.”

OK – is anyone else going where I am going here??

After watching all the ways we are so assured of our responses, filling in the blanks…well, now I’m thinking that even my intent to observe (rather than have opinions) may be moot if my brain is working within the Illusion of Knowledge. Then, how many of those we interact with are also working within the same illusion? Hmmm….

Any thoughts?

I wrote this while listing to Spotify (now available in Canada!). The station? Brain Food of course!

Do you want to look at things differently? Enjoy change? Embrace challenges? Live in a way which allows you to become all that you want to be…and more? Yes? Then…enter your name and email below and I will ensure you are one of the first to know when the next Master Key opportunity (fall 2015) is available. Each year this becomes exponentially larger. This year we are breaking all the records.

Do you want to be part of the 2% who do something to make a change and an even smaller % of those who will learn the “how”? Join us on this journey and truly see, live, be everything that you imagined. You may even decide to join Walter and I in Costa Rica!

If you change how you look at things – the things you look at change! – Wayne Dyer

The choice is TOTALLY up to you!

I’ve been going to a particular hairdresser locally the last few times. However, even after I show her a picture and describe what I want, she does her own thing. I’ve attempted to help by re-explaining – showing her where it is too “poofy” for my liking but I still end up with a style different than what I ask for. This time I was determined to find an alternative hair dresser.

I went into a shop today and asked the only person working whether she could assist – I explained ‘point cut’ and ‘spiky’. She asked to see a picture so I showed her. She said she was unable to do this type of cut and suggested the owner who would be in tomorrow. I required a cut today and asked if anyone else would be able to assist. She suggested another woman would be in within a 1/2 hour – maybe she could help. I agreed to come back.

Sonal reviewed my requirements and agreed to assist. We chatted about how long she has been a hairdresser – 3 years in Canada and 5 years back home in India. I mentioned I was leaving Canada and she asked why. I explained that I wanted to embrace life and staying here with the cost of living required me to work for my life rather than enjoy my life. She agreed wholeheartedly.

Upon further conversation she admitted to having come to Canada with the idea this was a place to prosper. They had left their own business back home in India and struggled here in Canada. I asked her whether she would choose differently knowing what she knows now. She said yes; She would have stayed in India. But they sold their business and have nothing in the bank. They worked for 5 years to pay to go home and visit last year – now there are no savings.

I found this fascinating. So many people immigrate to Canada from other countries. I wonder how many feel similarly to Sonal. We have another friend who has been here for 5 years and has just purchased a motel in the US and is moving there now. He admitted to having worked hard at multiple jobs since he arrived in Canada and even though he rented, he just could not get ahead financially.

This makes me take pause and wonder what it is that puts us in this space. I’ve heard statistics quoting 95% of the population are in debt. Why?

I have some ideas. However, I’ve chosen not to include them – they are all opinions. While I do not believe the grass is greener – I do believe there are other locations which offer a different type of lifestyle which is not available here. Hence why I am embracing our decision to move to Costa Rica. At the end of our conversation, Sonal paused, looking at me with a serious expression. She stated she believed we had made the right choice to move. An incoming and outgoing perspective.

WHY??

In case you missed the chaos, you can read about it here. After 6 out of the last 7 days with painters in our house, the last few weeks filled with furniture rearranged or removed; with all our artwork and personal decor taken off the walls and stored, with all our “personality” dismantled room by room, altering our home to what could be considered (for the most part) “neutral”, one of the mantras I consistently said to myself was: ‘This is no longer our home. This is someone else’s home.’

I’ve counselled transferring employees one must always remember which side of the table you are sitting on – especially when dealing with real estate.

When you are a buyer you are typically shrewd, you do your research, you pick apart anything which may not be to your liking in order to negotiate the value downwards. However, when you are on the opposite side of the table to the buyer, it is more typical for you as the seller to point out all the things which you found beneficial about your home, draw attention to those aspects which may have been time consuming to create, or financially dear to install or update, seeing everything through the eyes of an owner, all with the intent to negotiate the value upwards.

When I stopped and really listened to myself, the experience I had gained, through almost a 1/2 a century of my mom’s real estate career and my own in relocation, I realized I had almost fallen into the same trap which most homeowners do.

In what I can only estimate to be a good portion, if not the majority, of real estate transactions the seller usually does themselves a disservice. Why? Because the seller has let their personal perspective and taste get in the way of being objective and real about the product they now wish to sell.

AND that my friends is the key word here…”product”. It is no longer my home. It is a house. As a seller I now need to remove my personal feelings and adjust to what the market wants.

Imagine…a homeowner who steps back and chooses to review their property through the eyes of a buyer. If a seller can see this, truly see what their local buyers are looking for, they can then adjust their product to suit the majority of the potential buyers thereby increasing the value of their house.

When I looked around my house today and thought “If we weren’t moving to Costa Rica, I would want to stay in this house”, I realized we were on our way to offering a product which may appeal to a maximum number of buyer. It had almost nothing of our “personality” but I could see myself living here.

I will wrap it up with the analogy Walter used – in neutralizing the decor, removing our personality, we have created a blank canvas which is inviting, allowing the buyer to be able to “picture” themselves living here.

Who said Chicken Soup was good for the soul?

I went to visit my mom on the way up to the resort this afternoon. When I arrived one of the volunteers at the hospice was reading to her from “Chicken Soup for the Mothers’ Soul”. The volunteer asked to finish the story, only 2 pages left, as she too wanted to know what would happen.

Mom thanked her for reading to her and she handed me the book. I asked mom whether she would like me to continue to read. I did so. I read for about 45 minutes…numerous stories, all very poignant with many of them talking about death. I kept getting choked up but mom did not seem to be with me…so I pressed on. She drifted in and out of sleep, and then all of a sudden, just after I said aloud “Could these stories be any more heart wrenching?”, mom started getting choked up herself. I took her glasses off, passed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes as the tears rolled down.

Mom and I agreed that this was not the book we wanted to read. An observation we can both feel better about.

I arrived at the resort 2 hours later, having driven through two areas with significant snow fall. The resort was covered with about 2 inches of fluffy snow. You know the kind you can just blow on and it moves out of the way. It’s gorgeous.

Now…anyone who knows me, will confirm I am not a ‘winter’ person. However, if winter was like this for 3 months…I may have a slightly different position. It’s crisp out without being brutally cold. A bit of winter exercise of any sort and you’d be feeling pretty comfortable in the cold. The snow crunches under your boots when you walk, the silence of the cold night air making the sound more audible.

I am officially off grid other than my DoWoo. I look forward to awaking tomorrow and going for a walk in the morning. I look forward to what I am able to create tomorrow. You?

Most everyone has heard the expression “To be or not to be, that is the question” In this case it appears “To die or not to die, that is the question.”

Right now both of Walter’s parents (90 and 92) and my mom (85) are not in the best of health. Walter’s mom caught pneumonia and was hospitalized. She was determined to go home and the hospital allowed her to do so. Within a few days she was back, this time at a different hospital, and now has ‘double’ pneumonia (affecting both lungs). She is the worse I’ve ever seen her.

Please allow me to explain something about my mother-in-law. She is one of the feisty-est elderly persons I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. When I married into this family over 10 years ago, she commented “Now Vlady is married, I can die.“ Supposedly she has been waiting to die for over 20 years. They have paid for the plot, the ceremony and the stone is already partially engraved. The only thing which changes is the burial outfit as the seasons keep changing on her. Since the family do not wish to loose her, they have been telling her to wait till something else transpires before she can leave us. So I joined in on the plan and said “You need to wait till we have a child.” Our son turned 9 in the summer. Since his birth we’ve been using that she needs to wait to see him grow up!

So fast forward to this week. She is in the hospital and is refusing to eat, drink or take her medication. She explained to Walter that she had a dream and they (the hospital staff) are trying to poison her. She won’t take what they offer her…because she does not want to die.

Hmmm…I believe this is what we can refer to as irony. We think we want something until it faces us and then we decide that it is not what we wanted. The observation: Every day is precious. We must embrace it to it’s fullest. We cannot plan our departure but if somehow it is today, let it be that we have no regrets.

Woo Hoo! 18% completed with only 300 more to go! Can you believe it? I am so in the groove! Also doing a happy dance because we ordered our holiday card already – so we will have it way before the season is in swing. We usually get this out the 3rd week in December and am now looking forward to getting it out before December!

Walter and I went to a seminar today which was quite interesting to observe. Much of what we heard was in alignment with what we are doing in the Master Key. Allow me to share a few takeaways.

When you adopt a “Wealth” mindset – Failure & Mistakes are now considered Research & Development.

And the main speaker explained, after he shared that he and his wife of over 30 years had 10 children: “My kids go to university not to learn how to get a job but to learn how to socialize with the people who will work for them.” Whoa!

What do you think?

Was given a gift today. It was an amazing gift. So unexpected. We were given an opportunity to share a few stories this evening. To allow these stories to guide someone. To encourage them to see where they were and what a phenomenally wonderful space they were in. AND most importantly to see that where they were heading was right there in front of them. Exactly where they want to be. It’s there in front of them.

Being given the blessing of listening to someone else’s dream is HUGE. Having any impact on someone else’s dream is HUGER. Is there such a word? Probably not.

But THAT’s the POINT. It’s about words. It’s about choosing which thoughts go through your mind. It’s about choosing what thoughts come out of your mouth as words. Its’ about how you express your thoughts and what feelings are shared. It’s about saying what you mean and…you guessed it…meaning what you say.

WOW! I received guidance. I am now sharing guidance. This person receives guidance. They in turn will share guidance. This is the law of giving and receiving. We do not keep it to ourselves. We share what we learn in order to solidify what we have learned so someone else may share what they learn. I love how the world goes around. It’s like a great big ball isn’t it?

I wonder….if we create our reality…and words and thoughts can alter our reality….before people realized the world was round….was it?

Had a number of ear, eye, nose and throat symptoms this week …which after a few days we decided to try Claritin. This is not something I’ve used more than once. So maybe it would help. Walter came home with a package of non-drowsy 12 hour Claritin. However, he explained – there were choices: what he brought home and a double dose with the package reading “non-drowsy 24 hour Claritin”.

I ask you….Why would someone with allergies wish to stay in a non-drowsy state for a full 24 hours?